by Andrea Mandell, USA TODAY

by Andrea Mandell, USA TODAY

Last month, Daniel Brühl wowed critics in the Formula 1 movie Rush. Now he's back to put the brakes on WikiLeaks in The Fifth Estate (in theaters now). In the midst of back-to-back worldwide promotional blitzes, USA TODAY caught up with Brühl on his day off in Berlin.

1. He thinks Julian Assange's pushback is good for The Fifth Estate

The actor, who broke out in 2003's Good Bye Lenin!, caught notice for his Nazi sniper in Inglorious Basterds and cut Chris Hemsworth down to size in Rush, switches gears playing Assange's former No. 2 man Daniel Berg. His take on Assange's media takedown? "I think, in a way, everything he's posting in all these letters and all these things that appear on WikiLeaks, at the end of the day will be good for our movie," he says. "Once people see the movie they will see that it is not as bad and a work of propaganda against this man and against the organization. Of course a fiction movie always has to simplify things. It doesn't pretend to be a documentary."

2. He speaks five languages

That's right, five. "My mother's Spanish and she's from Barcelona," says Brühl, 35, who speaks perfect English. "I was born in Barcelona and then I moved to Cologne because my father was working there as a documentary filmmaker for German television." With two German uncles who married French women, "I grew up with a lot of half-French cousins. And we always played together, so when I was a kid we always spoke a mix of French, Spanish, Catalan and German."

3. He's a restaurateur, to boot

Three years ago, Brühl opened tapas restaurant Bar Raval in Berlin with a friend. "I've already had Benedict (Cumberbatch) there and (Rush director) Ron Howard," he says. "Philip Seymour Hoffman was there twice and Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen. And that makes me, of course, very proud that people enjoy our little tapas bar." The actor opened the spot to quell his nostalgia for Spain. "I just go there and cut a bit of ham and drink my glass of red wine and watch a soccer match and I'm happy," he says.

4. He's a Cumber-fan

Brühl has nothing but kind words to say about Cumberbatch. "From the first moment we did our rehearsals, I thought this guy is just fantastic," says Bruhl. Did he witness any of the actor's fans swarming the set? "Fortunately not. It would have been terrible for me, as you can imagine," he jokes. "Once in awhile there were fans. We were shooting in these remote places like in Iceland and in Belgium. Somehow in these places there wasn't that hysteria, which would have been very distracting for poor Benedict, because the work on that film was tough enough."

5. He's still getting used to paparazzi

Brühl had his girlfriend, model Felicitas Rombold, by his side on several red carpets recently, but says it's only recently that paparazzi have begun to snap their picture. "I experienced having some unpleasant moments with paparazzi which surprised me, because I did not expect that at all in New York. I had to learn to be cool, and not get insulted," says the actor. Next, he stars in 2014's John Le Carré spy adaptation, A Most Wanted Man. "I can feel a different dynamic now," says Brühl, thanks to a career-defining season. "I'm getting offers and interest by people I've always admired. I can't believe this is happening."